A situation that can occur on some occasions when we are working with the PC and that can be annoying and disconcerting is when the monitor turns off by itself. The screen goes black, even though the computer has not been turned off and continues to function normally. The first thing that comes to mind when this happens is that our monitor It has reached the end of its useful life and there is no choice but to replace it with a new one.
But before reaching this extreme, it is worth trying other solutions. Most of the time it is quite simple to fix the problem of a monitor that turns off by itself, without warning, or that works erratically. In this post we are going to analyze each of the situations that we may encounter, as well as the possible solutions to every problem.
Many times, before reaching the situation described in the title, our monitor gives us malfunction warnings: The screen flashes or goes black for a short moment. When these symptoms begin to appear, we know that the time has come to act.
check connections
The first thing to do, as obvious as it may seem, is Check that the monitor power cable is properly connected. Many times, when moving the monitor or changing the position of our PC on the desk, the cables become tangled or stretched, and can become disconnected. That may be the reason why the monitor has turned off: there is no connection.
Another situation that we may encounter is that the cable is well connected, but is so damaged that it no longer fulfills its function as it should. This can lead to occasional connection failures, screen flickering, etc. The solution: Replace the damaged cable with a new one.
The same can be said about the Video cable (which can be DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI or VGA). If it is connected well and the screen still remains black, you should consider changing the port or purchasing a new cable.
Check settings
The first thing to do, even if only to rule out some of the most common causes, is check that the device configuration is correct, That is, find out if the monitor is configured correctly and the automatic shutdown options are not activated. Many times, the monitor turns itself off by "obeying" the instructions given to it.
Performing this verification and applying a new configuration is relatively simple. This is what we should do:
- To start, let's go to Control panel from our PC.
- From there, we access the Energy options.
- Next, we click on the option "Change plan settings".
- On the next screen that opens, we go to the section «Turn off the screen» and we select "Never".
- Finally, to save the new configuration, click on "Save Changes".
Another check that we should carry out is that of the refresh rate. For example, if our monitor works at 60 Hz, but we have it configured at another frequency, malfunctions will occur: the monitor turns off by itself, the image cannot be displayed well, etc. To carry out this check, these are the steps to follow:
- First we right click on the desktop and, in the box that opens, select "Screen settings".
- Then we will «Advanced display settings».
- The following screen shows the configuration, which includes the refresh rate data. If this does not match the monitor, we can adjust it by choosing the correct value in the drop-down menu. "Update frequency".
To know the refresh rate data of our PC monitor, in the same step 3 we can press "Show display adapter properties" and from there go to the tab Monitor, where we will find the value we are looking for.
Update drivers
If the above solutions have not worked and the problems continue, it is a good idea to try update monitor or graphics card drivers. If we use Windows 10 or Windows 11, this is an operation that is executed automatically, although to be safer (perhaps automatic updates are disabled) we can do it manually. This is the way to do it:
- First of all, let's go to the taskbar search box. There we write "Device administrator" and we click on the corresponding icon.
- Then we go we select a category to view device names. In our case, "monitor" or "graphics card". Then we right click on the driver we want to update.
- Next, we choose the option "Automatically search for updated driver software."
- Finally, once we have found it, we select "Update driver".
In the event that Windows cannot find a new driver, you can always try searching for one on the device manufacturer's website. Then you just have to follow the instructions to update it.